HUDSON, Joan (Aingell)

Joan Aingell Hudson died peacefully at home on River Road in Wimberley on September 23rd, in the presence of God and her family. Born Joan Aingell in Eufaula, Oklahoma, to Lenore Grayson and Major Robert Aingell, in 1927, Jo was proud of her Indian heritage, especially her great-grandfather George Washington Grayson, principal chief of the Creek Indian Nation. She was valedictorian of Eufaula High School and attended Oklahoma College for women and the University of Oklahoma before marrying Winston Hudson and moving to Texas. She raised her two children, Jolynn Free and Chuck Hudson, in Abilene, where she and Winston lived for 35 years, before following his career in aerospace to San Diego, Harlingen, Fort Worth, and Korea. In retirement Jo and Winston returned to her childhood home, where she could have coffee with three women who had played in her backyard playhouse as children. When they relocated to Wimberley eight years ago, Jo was undergoing treatment for breast cancer, but she did not reconsider the move, saying, 'That river will heal me,' and it did. She bloomed wherever she was planted and was loved by all who knew her across years and miles, from the five-year-old stranger who told her, unprompted, 'You look nice,' to the Korean women who spoke no English but with whom she shared tea and laughter. A woman of deep Christian faith, she was the spiritual true north for a host of family, adoptees, and friends. Jo's grandfather wisely gave her the Indian name Haloche, which means bright and shining, and she was and remains so to her husband, children, grandchildren, great-grandson, brother and his family, and cherished friends. The family wishes to thank Vicki Kinder, Jennifer Campbell, Alma and Martha for their loving care and her spiritual community for their prayers and support. Services will be at 2:00 p.m. on Friday, October 2, her mother's birthday, at United Methodist Church in Wimberley. In lieu of flowers the family requests donations to Heifer International (www.heifer.org). Funeral arrangements entrusted to Thomason Funeral Home, 512-847-2226. Sign our guest register at www.thomasonfuneralhome.com.